A man who lost several relatives in the killings of eight people in southern Ohio four years ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the suspects, saying he wants to be sure none of them receive financial gain from the crime.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who lost several relatives in the killings of eight people in southern Ohio four years ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the suspects, saying he wants to be sure none of them receive financial gain from the crime. Tony Rhoden Sr. is seeking unspecified economic and punitive damages against four suspects in the April 2016 killings and two others who were charged with peripheral offenses. Four are awaiting trial in Pike County; charges were dropped against one suspect, and another pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge last year. “In my eyes, why should someone benefit from destroying other people’s lives?” Rhoden, whose brothers Gary Rhoden and Christopher Rhoden Sr. were among the eight victims, said in an interview. Any money that arose from publicity over the case should go to the victims’ surviving children, he said. The shooting deaths of the seven adults and a teenage boy in April 2016 terrified residents in the rural community and led to one of the most extensive criminal investigations in state history. Not until November 2018, more than two years after the killings, did authorities announce arrests. Surviving family members “suffered and continue to suffer damages for the mental anguish caused by the deaths,” according to the lawsuit filed in Pike County, where the killings happened. “We will do whatever is necessary to attempt to hold those responsible for these heinous acts accountable,” said Columbus attorneys Brian Duncan and Adam Nemann, representing Tony Rhoden. Several lawyers representing those named in the criminal complaint said they couldn’t comment because they hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet.
